In Greece there are two types of souvlaki (kebob). You can get the fast food sort from vendors on the street like a hamburger, or you can get the gourmet kind at sit down restaurants. This is my version, and hopefully it would be judged as the latter type rather than the former.

The secret to great souvlaki is in the marinade. It doesn’t hurt to start with a good cut of beef as well. Here is how to make my souvlaki - I’ve yet to serve it to anyone who doesn’t love it!
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When my family and I went to Greece on vacation earlier this year we re-discovered an old favorite dish that I used to make years ago called Giouvetsi (pronounced: yoo-VET-see). Some people also spell it Giouvetsi or Yuvetsi, but hey, it’s all Greek to me!

Basically this dish can be made with beef, lamb or chicken but the principle is the same. We’re going to slow cook the meat in a fantastic tomato based sauce with a few essential Greek seasonings until the meat is so tender it falls apart. Then, we’re going to add in some Greek rice-shaped pasta and bake the whole thing until it absorbs all that saucy goodness!

Damn! It’s making me hungry just writing about it, so let’s get to it!
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There is a common Greek soup called Avgolemono which is basically a Chicken & Rice soup with a slight lemon flavor that happens to make normal Chicken & Rice soup pale by comparison (In Greek the “avgo” means egg and the “lemono” is lemon). The only problem is that traditional Avgolemono soup takes hours to prepare and, while the payoff is fantastic, most people just don’t have the time to dedicate to that sort of venture.
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Some people don’t want to attempt to cook Greek food because a few of the dishes are pretty complex. Well, this isn’t one of them. The worst thing about making these tasty pastries is that they take a little time. I’d say start to finish in about an hour.

The name Tiropita (pronounced tee-RO-pee-ta) translates literally to “cheese pie”. This recipe is actually for what I affectionately call Tiropitaki. You see, adding “aki” on the end of a Greek word means “little” so these are actually small cheese pies.

As a side note, my little cousin Sonia likes to call ME cousinaki - despite the fact that I’m at least a foot taller and almost double her weight…
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